Providence immigration lawyers have had refugee child cases for some time

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Three local immigration lawyers say they have seen a growing number of cases involving refugee children after reports of an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America trying to enter the U.S.

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DONITA NAYLOR
Posted Jul. 23, 2014 @ 10:06 pm

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Three local immigration lawyers say they have seen a growing number of cases involving refugee children after reports of an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America trying to enter the U.S. over the Southern borders.

That influx is beginning to dissipate, Governor Chafee said Wednesday.

Federal authorities told governors during a conference call that the number of unaccompanied children crossing the nation’s border has slowed, lessening the need for temporary housing. He reiterated Wednesday that his office had received no requests to house any of the children.

At the Gonzalez Law Offices in East Providence, Roberto and Deborah Gonzalez specialize in immigration cases. In about a dozen juvenile cases they have worked on in the last two years, only one child is being detained at the Texas border, Roberto Gonzalez said.

Most of their cases predate the crisis at the border, he said. “We’ve been doing this for a while; this is nothing new.… It’s only in the last couple of months,” he said, that the numbers have become a phenomenon. He, too, said the number is starting to decline.

Ondine G. Sniffin, an immigration lawyer at Mills & Born, which has offices in Providence and Malden, Mass., said the firm had been handling two or three cases a month, but it’s handling six a month now. Originally, Sniffin, who works mostly on cases in Massachusetts, was the only lawyer handling juvenile immigration cases, but she said the firm has three lawyers who work on those cases now. Ninety-five percent of their cases are in Massachusetts, she said.

The Gonzalez law firm “used to be able to call and make arrangements” at the border to send children to waiting relatives in Rhode Island. But now, “the great number of children coming” has overwhelmed the authorities. On one case, Gonzalez said, he hasn’t been able to get through to someone who can look up the case or say what paperwork is needed.

The process usually works like this, the Gonzalezes said: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services checks the children, vaccinates them and interviews them. Then they wait for the child to be matched with an adult family member. The family buys a plane ticket. The law firm will usually help the parent or friend arrange for immigration documents that allow the child to board a plane.

“I can tell you that cases that we have been handling have been going through the normal channels. Once they get released from Texas and placed with a family, they have to appear in court. People are willing to appear in court. It’s not like they’re coming in and then hiding,” Roberto Gonzalez said.

The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, set up to protect victims of human trafficking, allows children who have been abandoned, abused or neglected to remain in the United States and get a green card.

First they must go to probate court to have a guardian appointed, the Gonzalezes said. Then they go to family court to ascertain whether the child has been abandoned or abused and needs a protective order. Then they apply for a green card. An immigration officer then interviews the family to determine whether the child is admissible under the law.

Meanwhile, an immigration judge is presiding over a deportation, which is closed if the immigration officer deems the child eligible for relief. If not, the person is deported or agrees to voluntarily return to his or her home country.

“A lot of these kids are fleeing gang recruitment or getting away from near starvation at home,” Roberto Gonzalez said. Many of the families have taken out loans to pay the guides known as “coyotes” who help the children cross Mexico to the United States.

Most of the Gonzalez clients are between the ages of 14 and 16 and come from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, they said. These children end up with families or friends, mostly in Providence, but sometimes in Newport or Pawtucket. “Most of the unaccompanied children that we see” have paid $5,000 to $10,000 each to “hop on the freight train at the southern tip of Mexico.” After that treacherous journey to the U.S. border, they turn themselves in to the Border Patrol.

Under the Wilberforce Act, at least one parent had to have “abandoned” the child. If one parent is in the United States, the parent who allows the child to cross the border alone is considered guilty of neglect. Even if the child is sent to be with another parent, family court will consider that neglect, and the child will qualify to be allowed to stay.

“We’re doing the best we can to represent them in immigration court,” Gonzalez said. “Ultimately it’s an immigration judge who will decide.”

Almost everybody comes to meet a cousin, uncle or friend of the family, Gonzalez said. “It’s rare that you see someone that comes without a family member.”